De-Aged Mishaps
by stark18
Summary: The two leaders of the Avengers are de-aged by a new villain. Now it's up to the rest of the team and Pepper to handle their younger teammates.


It all happened so suddenly. There was a huge blue flash of light, and then the roads were swamped with SHIELD agents.

The Avengers woke up and did their morning routines like any other normal day. Cap went on his morning run, Thor ate all the food in the kitchen, Banner was in the lab, and Clint and Nat were probably spying on Tony, who was still in his workshop after pulling an all-nighter.

Ever since the New York fiasco, it seemed like more and more villains started to pop up out of nowhere. One could say that Loki was their inspiration to publicly attack the Avengers to make them infamous, a face people would recognize and suddenly be afraid of.

Today, a new supervillain arose, and the Avengers were sent out to investigate, and ultimately capture her. This villain was much more powerful than the others the team faced, seeing as she had magical abilities.

"It is not of this realm, and it is not anything I have seen on Asgard," Thor said to the rest of the team when they arrived at the coordinates Fury sent out.

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do, I'm not about to throw myself into one of her magic spells without knowing what it'll do," Hawkeye was adamant about not going to fight her hand-to-hand, but he worked better from a distance anyway.

"Well, we don't know if this is Code Green yet and I don't want to risk it, and Nat is protected by a thin layer of fabric. Thor is the only one who can contact someone who might possibly possess this magic, so if you're hit and something happens to you, we lose our chances of finding a way to counter the effect. If anyone should go investigate it, it should be Stark or Cap, seeing that they have armor that doesn't damage too easily."

Cap was nodding along before Tony piped up, "Woah Woah Woah! Am I chop liver or something? What if something happens to me? I appreciate your concern, Brucie boy! Now, here's what I think we should d- OW!"

Natasha whacked Tony aside the head, "Shut up Stark, you and Cap are the only ones who can possibly stop her without being put under a spell. Isn't it worth the risk? You know, to stop her before she wrecks the city?"

Tony rolled his eyes before his face-plate snapped shut, "C'mon Cap, let's get outta here before Nat tries anything funny." With that, Cap and Stark took off to go see what this little witch was up to.

"You have got to be KIDDING me!" Fury looked at the two children, who couldn't have been older than 7, sitting in front of them.

"Unfortunately no, Sir. What the hell are we gonna do? I don't think there's any protocol for this…" Clint gestured to his two younger teammates, unsure what to do. He did have to admit, young Cap and Tony were adorable. Cap had dirty blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, and Tony's hair was browner than his older self's but his iconic beard disappeared - it would be disturbing if it was still there however. The two children occupied themselves in Fury's office. Cap was playing with the hem of his shirt - their clothes seemed to shrink down with them - and Tony was spinning in one of the office chairs.

"I can 100% assure you there are no protocols for this," Fury replied to Clint. "I'll call in Coulson so we can get this sorted. For now, bring the pair to the tower."

"And what exactly are we supposed to do with them, we aren't parents," Natasha glared at Fury. This was totally out of her field of expertise, and she was always awkward around children.

"How am I supposed to know. Entertain them. Keep them out of sight, we do not need the world to know that the leaders of the Avengers are defenseless children!" With that, Fury left the room with a flick of his trench coat.

Tony stopped spinning - how did that kid not throw up? - and looked at the remaining adults. "I'm bored and hungry, and one of you need to solve that problem. You, " he pointed at Bruce, "get me some mac and cheese." The kid raised an eyebrow, expecting everyone to quickly tend to his needs.

"You don't have to be so rude about it, jeez!" Steve looked at his fellow young teammate and snarled. His stomach started to make noises and he looked at the adults. "Can we please get some food?" Tony just rolled his eyes and let out a huff of air.

"That's a good idea, and thank you _Steve_ for asking nicely." Clint opened the door to lead his smaller teammates into the hallway.

"Do you think they remember anything about their older selves?" Bruce leaned in to whisper to Natasha as they walked down the hallway of the helicarrier.

"I'm not sure, but they seem to have kept their personalities. Cap being all polite and Stark is still obnoxious and annoying…"

"C'mon slowpokes, we don't have all day!" Bruce snickered as he heard his younger 'science-bro' beckon for the adults and Steve to hurry along.

After an interesting lunch on the helicarrier, the team boarded the quinjet and arrived at the Avengers Tower. Steve was lagging behind, staring at everything around him. He seemed amazed with all the new technology, "Where are we?"

"Well, we're home. Um, this is where we all live," Bruce replied to the blonde's question.

"Who are you guys?" The small brunette called from in front of the group. He too was looking around, but didn't seem as amazed as Steve.

"Why don't we go to the communal area and we can all sit down and talk? Huh, sound nice?" Natasha wasn't sure what Clint was thinking when he said they would talk. It probably wouldn't be the best idea to tell the two children what exactly happened. Thor had left the group before they boarded the quinjet, and claimed to have gone to look for Loki to see if he could explain what had happened.

The group made their way to the living room, and each adult took a spot on the couch. Tony took a seat on the huge armchair, and Cap sat across from the adults on a smaller couch.

"We are here to look after you two for the time being. You're going to stay here in the tower, and if you have any problems you can come find us. I'm Clint, that's Natasha, he's Bruce, and the big blonde guy that left was Thor."

"So where are our parents, I'm not sure they would approve of this." Steve looked towards the adults with a questioning look in his eyes.

"They're currently not around, but we talked to them and they are fine with it. They said they could be gone for a long time," Natasha quickly answered and the two boys seemed suspicious, but didn't question it.

"Well, I guess in the meantime we have to find things more….age appropriate." Clint stood up, followed by Natasha and Bruce. "Who's ready to go shopping?"

Natasha had called Pepper to come help out, afraid of what would happen if there was a call to assemble. She knew she could count on Pepper to stand in as temporary guardian of the children if the rest of the Avengers had to go take another villain down. The redhead met the group at the mall, jaw dropped to the floor.

"Oh my God… I, I have no words. You weren't joking, my boyfriend is a toddler…"

"Yeah, I know. It's weird. But on the bright side, he's not much different!" Clint replied to the jaw-dropped woman. They were all standing in the middle of the parking lot, and the adults could tell both kids were starting to get antsy.

"Ok, so what exactly do we need?" Pepper asked, she had never had experience with children as well.

"Well, we obviously need to get them clothes and something to keep them entertained for now. I know there's this one toy store in there that should suffice," Natasha was starting to get more nervous by the second. There were many people around that could possibly recognize the CEO, assassins, or the doctor. And if any of those people decided to ask questions about the two tiny kids with them, they wouldn't know what to do.

"I say we split the two up. Two of us can take Steve, and the other two Tony," Bruce suggested.

"I CALL STEVE!" Clint quickly exclaimed and went to go pick up said boy. Tony looked at Clint with an annoyed look and snarked, "Good, I didn't want you anyways buttface!"

"Tony, that's not polite. Apologize now," Pepper glared at her boyfriend, baffled at his lack of manners. Even as an adult, she had to put him in line sometimes.

"And who are you? Why should I have to listen to some stranger who I never met?" Tony crossed his arms and tilted his head so he wasn't looking at Pepper, his bottom lip puffed out to show he was pouting.

The group stood there for a couple minutes waiting for Tony to apologize, before Clint and Natasha knew it wasn't gonna happen and finally had enough. They told Bruce and Pepper 'good luck', and made their way into the mall with a well-behaved Steve.

"Y'know Tony, if we stay out here, you're not gonna get any toys or clothes. And you won't be allowed to play with Steve's. So unless you apologize to Pepper, I guess you're gonna be bored for your entire stay at the tower."

Tony looked at Bruce and if looks could kill, he would be six feet under. Tony simply looked at his feet and mumbled, "'m sorry…" Bruce nodded, "Alright, was that so hard? Now, let's get going so we can get back to the tower sooner." With that, the three made their way into the mall, Tony in between the two shuffling his feet.

Clint and Natasha were having more fun than they thought they would. It amused them to see so much of a resemblance of their leader in such a tiny boy. Steve was polite, and was more excited to hold doors for others rather than go shopping.

"Ok kiddo, we're gonna get you some clothes now so you can change out of that disgusting shirt." Clint brought Steve to the nearest clothes store, and found a whole section dedicated to Avengers apparel. He let Steve pick out what he wanted, and unsurprisingly picked out shirts that had the infamous shield logo on the front. Natasha grabbed him a couple of normal shirts, pants, underwear, and a pair of sneakers from another part of the store, and met the two boys at the register. Pepper gave the two adults a credit card that linked to Tony's bank account, and they more than accepted the offer.

The next stop was the toy store. Natasha thought Steve's eyes were going to pop out of his skull. "Go on, pick anything you want," she said, giving Steve a little nudge. She knew that Steve wasn't as privileged as a kid, and knew he was hesitant.

"Are you sure, Miss? It's ok, I can make do with what you have at the tower." Steve's eyes revealed that he desperately wanted to buy anything he could, even if he didn't say it.

"I'm positive. Trust me, we _want_ you to pick out your own toys. We're not too sure what you like," Natasha took Steve's hand, knowing he wasn't gonna go in himself, and dragged him in. Once he was in however, he ran to where the art supplies were. Natasha always knew he enjoyed drawing but she thought it was something he started when in the army, not during his childhood.

He looked at the sketchbook and went to grab it. He stopped halfway and gave Natasha a glance, as if asking permission. When she gave a firm nod, he grabbed the sketchbook and a few other art supplies. Clint grabbed a basket, and before they knew it, it was filled to the brim with action figures, more art supplies, and stuffed animals. Steve was practically jumping with excitement when the stuff was paid for and the three of them made their way out of the store.

"Thank you so much! I can't wait to play with it all!" Steve went in to hug the adults. At first, Natasha flinched away, never one for affection, but soon hugged the boy back. Clint put a hand on Steve's shoulder, "No problem squirt, now we can go to the tower and start playing with your new toys!" Natasha shook her head and smiled a bit, knowing Clint was just as excited to play with the toys as Steve. She pulled out her phone and called Pepper, "Hey, we just finished up. Where are you guys so we can meet up?"

Pepper informed her that she was making her way to the toy store, and would meet them there. She also said that Tony was being a little brat, and that she would kill him if he wasn't her boyfriend. Natasha chuckled and told Clint, and the three of them waited for the 'brat' and two adults to show up.

"But Pepper! Steve got whatever he wanted!"

"Yeah, well that's because Steve was good today, maybe you should try to act more like him." Pepper was about to blow a fuse, and was amazed that Bruce hadn't hulk'd out yet. However, he did have to leave the group to calm himself down a couple of times. Tony was such a pain, and demanded everything from the adults. He argued with them when she told him he could only pick out a few shirts, and not grab everything that he saw. She feared how he would act in the toy store...

Pepper actually had to sit him down on a bench to talk about how if he didn't change his attitude, he would be put in 'timeout' when they got back to the tower. He ignored her and continued to act like a little punk, and she made a mental note to have Clint and Nat take care of him in the future. Once they reached the toy store, Pepper saw the other three members of the team and waved at them. Steve waved back, and Pepper could only drown in envy at how good he was compared to her own child.

Tony took ahold of Pepper's hand and started to drag her to the store, seemingly ignoring Steve, Clint and Natasha, and ran right past them. Pepper shot 'help me' eyes to Natasha, and she seemed to get the memo across. Nat told Steve and Clint she was going to go help Tony find what he needed, and that she would return. Bruce stayed with Steve and Clint outside, claiming that if he spent another second with Tony he was going to tear down the entire mall.

Once Tony entered the toy store, he bolted towards anything that involved construction. He grabbed a couple lego sets, bionicles, link-n-logs, whatever. Anything that allowed him use his hands and construct his own creations. Natasha watched over the boy while Pepper gathered a few more toys for Tony, in case he builds everything too fast and whines about how bored he is. The three of them checked everything out and met up with Steve, Bruce and Clint.

They made it back to the tower with little problem, seeing as both children were playing with their new toys. The ride seemed to tire them out however, and both boys were yawning by the time they made their way to the top floor. It was a long day, getting de-aged must've been tiring, and spending a few hours shopping and running around just added onto the pre-existing exhaustion.

"Ok, c'mon boys. Let's get you guys to bed," Bruce stated staring at the two boys, who both plopped down on the nearest couch. Steve held onto his Captain America teddy bear, and Tony was starting to tear into a legos set, despite being tired, "Can I build this first Bruce? I promise after I finish I'll go straight to bed."

Tony was staring at him with wide eyes, how could Bruce resist? "Fine, but you have to seriously go to bed after this, no exceptions." Tony just nodded and continued to open the box up, throwing away the instructions mumbling something like 'I can build it on my own.' Steve however, was more than ready to go down for the night. He dragged his teddy bear alongside him and tugged on Clint's pants, "Where's my room? I'm tired."

"Ah it's down this hallway, here, I'll show you," he grabbed the young boy's free hand and took him to a room. He tossed the kid a pair of pajamas Natasha picked out, and reminded him to come look for any of the adults if he needed anything. With a confirming nod, Steve started to strip down as Clint closed the door behind him. He made his way to the living room and sat down in the armchair, watching Tony play with his new lego set.

"Whatcha making squirt?"

"First off, don't call me that. That's not my name. And second, it's a jet. I'm using the jet we took from that big flying thing as a reference," Tony said around his tongue, which was sticking out of his mouth as if he was concentrating - something the older Tony would do.

"Ah cool. Let me know if you need anything….squirt," Clint couldn't resist. It was too easy and fun to frazzle the young boy - one could consider it revenge for how annoying the older Tony was to everyone. Clint started to get up to make his way to the kitchen, when the cardboard box for the legos made contact with the back of his head. He turned to see an agitated kid, "I said, don't call me that! You must be an idiot…"

"Hey! You know what, I'm sick and tired of your attitude today. That's it, c'mon," Clint made his way over to Tony and slung the kicking boy over his shoulder like it was nothing. Tony began to scream, and Nat, Bruce and Pepper came in from the kitchen. "Put me DOWN JERK!" Pepper allowed a tiny smile to creep across her face. Maybe the kid would take the hint and stop acting up.

Clint took Tony and placed him down in the corner of the room, away from anything that could keep him entertained, "Stay here, and think about ways you can improve your attitude." Tony's eyes began to well up with tears, and he let a few silent sobs loose. "Clint, I'm sorry! I promise I'll be good! Please don't tell Dad!" he said through the crying. Clint just looked at the boy and pointed a finger at him, "Don't move."

He made his way over to the group of adults, walking away from the sobs coming from the corner, "Kid threw a box at my head. Was he like this as a kid, jeez…"

After 10 minutes, Pepper made her way over to a now quiet Tony. He was staring down at his feet with red puffy eyes. Pepper sat down next to him and slid her thumbs across his cheeks, wiping away the few tears that had yet to dry.

"Are you alright now? I know, it sucks for both of us to be in this situation, but you need to improve your attitude, ok?"

Catching the woman off guard, Tony threw his hands around her waist and mumbled something into her shoulder. She returned the gesture, and picked him up. His legs automatically wrapped around her torso when she placed him on her hip, and he placed his head in the crook of her neck. She made her way to another room and gave Tony a set of pajamas. He put them on quickly, without question, and stood next to the bed. Pepper lifted the covers and he climbed in, allowing her to tuck him in. He looked at Pepper with wide eyes, "Thank you… I'm, um, sorry for my behavior…"

Pepper looked at the small child as his eyes began to close, and kissed his forehead, "Apology accepted, honey. I love you…" With that, she made her way out, looking back to see the peaceful face of the young boy.

It was the next morning, and Thor had returned to the tower without his brother, "Loki said that the spell will eventually wear off on its own." Pepper's eyes lit up with hope, "Did he say when it would wear off?"

"No, but he did inform me that it should be soon, fair lady."

Clint strolled into the living room where all the adults congregated, excluding Natasha who was at the helicarrier to inform Fury what has happened thus far. "That is probably the best news I've heard all day!"

"Clint, you just woke up," Bruce rolled his eyes. "And besides, things are about to get much worse." Everyone turned their heads to the sound of tiny footsteps coming from the hallway.

"Hey kids, are you hungry? I can whip something up really quick, how about pancakes?" Pepper was already up and heading to the kitchen when Steve nodded his head.

"Yes! I mean, um, yes please…" Tony looked down to his hands, which were fiddling with the hem of his shirt. Pepper gave him a small smile. She told the boys to get settled because the pancakes would take awhile to make. They already put the clothes she had laid out for them the night before. The boys rushed to their toys and quickly got themselves entertained while the remaining adults stayed to watch them.

Tony seemed to assemble 3 of the lego sets by the time Pepper called everyone in for breakfast. Clint helped Steve get settled on the high chair at the island, and Tony patiently waited for his turn. However, Clint didn't seem to notice and sat down on another high chair to the right of Steve. Tony went to tug on his pants, but hesitated, remembering the incident that happened the day before. So he tried to climb the chair by himself, struggling.

Bruce saw the young boy and quickly made his way over before Tony could fall. He picked the young boy up and placed him on the chair, giving him a small smile, "There you go, Bud." Tony nodded, "Thank you, Bruce." Bruce ruffled his hair and sat down across from him. Thor came bursting in, "I heard there was food present, and I am here to feast!"

Steve and Tony just stared at the strange man, but seeing as the other adults seemed comfortable around him meant he must be a friend. Then Steve remembered that he must've been the man that left before they boarded the jet. "Hi, I'm Steve, you must be Thor. It's nice to meet ya." Steve held out his hand, and Thor gladly shook it, "It is my pleasure!"

Tony was too busy engulfing his food to notice that Thor was looking at him, expecting a greeting of some sort. When he didn't receive one, he too began digging into his food that Pepper put in front of him. He devoured the plate of food before Clint or Bruce even got theirs. "Miss Potts! This was amazing, your cooking is certainly delightful!"

"Why thank you, Thor. I don't really cook too much so I'm glad you like it," she began eating her own set of pancakes.

"Yeah Pep, this is really good, thanks," Clint too was one bite away from finishing all his food. When he took said bite, he got up to place his plate in the sink. "Do we want to go out today and do something? Or do you think Fury would throw a hissy fit?"

Bruce shook his head, "Yeah, he would freak out but I think it would be good for the kids, they're getting antsy." All heads turned to the two kids, Tony finished half of his plate and Steve ate everything, and started to pick off of Tony's unfinished food. Tony made eye contact with Clint before letting it fall towards Bruce, "Can we go to the science museum?"

Bruce shared a look with the other adults and Pepper gave him an affirmative nod, "Yeah, sure. We'll leave after we clean up." Tony fist bumped the air and began telling Steve about sciencey things. Steve looked like he didn't understand anything, but Bruce could see that he was interested to learn more about it.

Pepper went to pack a bag of snacks and some toys while the rest of the adults took about 30 minutes to get everything all cleaned up. When everything was all set, everyone made their way to the parking garage. The kids were practically jumping off the walls with excitement. They all knew that Fury would be pissed, but figured that it wasn't right to keep the kids locked up all day.

The entire way to the museum was filled with Tony telling everyone facts about animals, cars, robots, etcetera. Pepper couldn't help but smile at the young kid, seeing so much of her boyfriend's intelligence and personality shining through. She could tell that as much as they both hated it, the 'timeout' was worth it as everyone was in a better mood. Tony was no longer a screaming and demanding kid, and the adults could now travel with him without wanting to drive the car off a cliff.

They reached the museum that was about 20 minutes away from the tower. Tony was basically bouncing all around the car, and Steve was just about ready to exit the car when Pepper turned around from the driver's seat. "Ok, so we're gonna lay down some ground rules. You two are not allowed to go off by yourself, you must always be with one of the adults. If you need to go to the bathroom or need _anything,_ tell us. Don't hesitate. And lastly, don't talk to strangers ok? I think we're all set, let's go get our tickets."

They entered the science museum and immediately, both of the kid's eyes went wide. The first thing that greeted you when you walked in was a huge dinosaur skeleton. Bruce led the kids to go read the plaque that told you about the dinosaur while Pepper, Clint and Thor went to get tickets. After they bought the tickets, they made their way back over to the skeleton.

"Pepper! This is a Baryonyx! They lived in the water, and they had long noses so they could catch a lot of fish!" Tony took ahold of Pepper's free hand - the other held the wristbands for the museum - and dragged her to the skeleton, pointing to the snout. She let him tell her more facts as she slipped the wristband on Tony, and gave Clint the other to put on Steve. She put on her own, and took Tony's hand, "Wow! That's very cool, Tones. How about we make our way through the rest of the museum? There's a whole section dedicated to dinosaurs!"

Tony's eyes went wide and allowed Pepper to take him to the rest of the group. Thor seemed to be just as excited as the kids, and his head was on a swivel taking in everything. Pepper had to admit, taking them out of the tower was a good idea. Tony's face was priceless as they visited each exhibit, and Steve told her many times throughout their visit that his 'brain hurted, but in a good way.' Pepper just laughed at not only the wrong pronunciation, but the fact that her brain was also hurting.

After spending about an hour and a half in the section dedicated to robots, she dragged Tony out to meet with the rest of the group, who were waiting outside 'the history of war' exhibit, which Steve insisted they visit. No one realized they spent about 6 hours at the museum, and Thor was complaining about how hungry he was, even though they ate lunch about 2 hours ago. On the way to the car, Steve was telling Tony about how guns improved throughout the ages, and Tony was surprisingly listening.

When they reached the car, Steve was on the topic of poison gas, and Clint gave out a belly-laugh, noticing how bored and anxious Tony looked. He knew it was hard for the kid to listen without interrupting, and the older version also had the same problem. But he also respected that the kid was trying - and succeeding in - improving his behavior. It was so much simpler to look over a kid who was willing to cooperate.

When they made it to the tower, Pepper asked JARVIS to order some pizza, not in the mood to cook anything. Natasha was in the living room when everyone came barging in. Steve played with his new stuffed T-Rex and Tony was turning on the dinosaur robot Pepper bought him at the gift shop. Thor was on the couch, playing with a plasma ball that he claimed he had to have. He said he had to figure out the mystery behind the 'unusual lightning occurring within the small sphere.'

Clint tapped Natasha on the shoulder after she realized she was staring at the kids and Thor, "So, what did Fury have to say?"

"Just that they were trying to find solutions, but I assume that Thor told you all the solution when he came back. So?"

"Soon. Very soon. Y'know, they're starting to grow on me. I have to admit that I had a really good time today. Wish you were there to see Steve almost piss his pants at all the information he learned. Oh! And the time when Tony was trying so hard to be polite, haha that was a sight to see."

"Wish I was there. I'm just glad that it'll wear off soon. I still don't know how I feel about this whole situation," she gestured to the room, where the boys and Thor were still playing with their toys, except Tony's and Steve's dinosaurs were 'fighting.'

"Pizza's here!" Pepper called from the elevator, where she presumably came up from the lobby carrying three pizza boxes. Thor immediately put his plasma ball off to the side and approached

Pepper, offering to carry the boxes to the kitchen, and she gladly accepted the offer. Thor brought them into the kitchen while Natasha was getting plates out. Steve rushed into the kitchen, followed by Tony who was waving his dinosaur around as if it was flying.

Steve was assisted by Clint, who once again lifted him to put him on the chair he sat in at breakfast. Bruce assisted Tony, and Pepper placed two pieces of pizza in front of both kids. She placed four pieces in front of Thor, and three in front of Bruce. She got herself and Natasha two pieces each and sat across from Tony. Everyone seemed to enjoy the dinner, and Tony was 'feeding' his robot some pizza. Steve turned to Natasha and began telling her about the 'history of war' exhibit, and everyone else internally groaned. Everyone knew how long the kid could talk, but let him share his experience.

After about 20 minutes of non-stop talking from Steve, everyone was ready to just sit back and relax. They made their way out to the living room, leaving the dirty dishes in the sink. Clint put on the TV, but Steve piped up, "Oh, what's that?" He pointed to the gaming system that was sitting at the base of the TV.

"That's a Wii. Here, I'll show you how to play," Clint grabbed Mariokart off a nearby shelf and grabbed two controllers. He connected the system to the TV, and the game came to life. It even captured the attention of Tony, who just plopped down criss-crossed in front of the TV with his head tilted back.

Clint handed Steve a controller, and told him how to play the game. They did a practice round, and Steve took a liking to Toad while Clint chose Bowser. "Ok kid, I'm not gonna go so easy on you now. I'll let you have the fantastic privilege of choosing the track." Steve giggled and chose Bowser's Castle, "I'm gonna beat you on your own turf old man!"

Everyone looked at Steve with their jaws dropped to the floor. Steve immediately looked down, "I'm sorry! Um, I didn't mean to say that…" Obviously nobody took offense to the kid's words, and it was silent until Tony started to giggle, which broke out into full-out laughter. Everyone followed suit, to the point where Steve started to giggle a little.

"No worries, lil man. Now c'mon, I'm more than ready to crush you," Clint ruffled Steve's hair and the race started. After a few slipped words, cheering from Tony and a lot of laughs, the race ended and Clint was baffled.

"You had to have cheated…"

"Nope," Steve popped the 'p' with a huge smile across his face.

"It seems that the young boy had 'crushed' you, Son of Barton! It was a glorious victory Steve!" Thor clapped on and received a glare from Clint, obviously upset about the race.

"Suck it up Clint! Just admit it, the 'master' has been taken down by a kid who only played once," Natasha always had fun messing with Clint, especially when it came to video games.

Tony was bouncing from his seat from the floor. "Play again! Do the rainbow track! I bet 'cha Steve will crush you again, it seems like anyone can!"

"You talk a big game kid. C'mon, I'll grab another controller," Clint patted the couch and Tony quickly made his way over and plopped himself down next to Steve. Clint returned to the couch and handed Tony a controller. Clint chose Rainbow Road and Bowser again, while Steve chose his usual character. Tony chose Yoshi, and the race started.

Pepper leaned to whisper to Bruce, "$5 Tony will win."

Bruce chuckled, "Steve. It's on." They shook hands watched the trio on the couch. Pepper fist bumped when Tony took the lead after knocking Clint off the side of the road for what seemed the hundredth time. Clint gave a long, annoyed groan, "C'mon, now you're just doing that on purpose!" Tony's tongue was sticking out in concentration, and when they were finished, Bruce fished out $5.

Clint threw his hands in the air, sending the controller across the room. Steve and Tony both tackled Clint and the older man tried to escape but didn't want to risk hurting either boy. So, he let them climb all over him, while the four other adults watched on with huge grins across their faces. Even Natasha was laughing.

"Hey Clint…" Tony looked up from his spot on the older man's legs, regaining his breath.

"What's up?" Clint raised his eyebrows, getting a little nervous that he may have accidentally kicked the kid.

"I'm sorry, for, um, throwing a box at you." Clint just smiled and grabbed the kid from his legs, and brought him into a long hug, one that Steve joined a few moments later. The adults just smiled from the couch.

Luckily, JARVIS was taking pictures the entire night…

The next morning, Tony awoke with the worst headache he had in awhile. "Woah, Peps, what did I have to drink last nig-" He rolled over, expecting to see his girlfriend but didn't find said person. He got up and realized he wasn't even in his own bed. He also realized that he was in… Captain America pajamas? He made his way out to the hallway and heard voices coming from the living room. Making his way over to the noise, he saw everyone and Steve was in pajamas that had - were those arc reactors? - all over them.

"He's alive!" Clint looked over with a smirk on his face, as Pepper shot up and ran to him. She pulled him in for a long affectionate kiss. "Woah, what was that about?"

"It's been awhile since I've been able to do that," she bit her lower lip, looking at him with wide eyes. Tony was about to say something before Bruce piped up, "Sorry to break up the party over there, but I think we need to discuss a few things…"

Pepper took Tony's hand and dragged him to the couch. "Um, yeah. I was gonna ask, what jerk put me in Captain America apparel?"

"So, you don't remember the past two days? Nothing?" Natasha squinted her eyes towards the two men. When both men shook their heads, she gave out a long sigh.

"Well, I don't know how to explain this, but you two were de-aged. You both were kids," Steve and Tony shot their heads towards Pepper. She could tell both men were trying their hardest to remember something, but both failed.

Steve shook his head, "But how? How is that even possible?"

"It was not of this realm, nor Asgard's, but Amora's spell turned you two into younger versions of yourselves. Let us just be grateful that the spell didn't last longer than it had," Thor was smiling as he nodded towards them.

"Yeah, I gotta admit, you two were _adorable._ But Tony, I was gonna kill you," Clint said, and a confused look began to form on Tony's face. He looked at the rest of the group, who nodded in confirmation with what Clint said.

"Oh c'mon, I couldn't have been that bad," Tony looked at the group, who each returned 'you-wanna-bet' faces back.

"Were you always an obnoxious punk as a kid? Or were you just putting on a show," Bruce said from his corner. Tony looked… satisfied?

"I'm sure you're all overreacting! And what 'bout him? He must've been a pain too," he pointed at Steve, who looked around curiously, not too sure whether he wanted to hear about what he did and how he behaved.

"Oh Steve? He was great! In fact, it was a pleasure to be around him. Nobody wanted you, sorry Stark…" Natasha chuckled and everyone laughed besides Tony, who just rolled his eyes.

The group talked about the past two days: the shopping mishap, Tony's 'timeout' - which earned a lot of laughs while Tony just huffed - the museum, and the video game fiasco.

"So you're telling me, that I beat 'the master of all video games?' Oh my goodness, I'm never letting this go!" Steve gave out a belly-laugh, which seemed to be contagious as everyone was on their backs laughing.

Everyone settled down trying to regain their breaths. They looked around and they knew they were thinking the same thing: How lucky they were to have each other.


End file.
